The Zoombies
by Ghost-Toast
Summary: -On Hiatus- Nine year old Ellis has a thirst for adventure that cannot be quenched. AU. Teeny Tiny Nellis Fluff Nuggets. Chapter 3 is up.
1. Nick's a Homo

AN: I absolutely love movies from the eighties/ninties, and I watched _The Goonies_ for the first time yesterday. While I was watching it all I could think of was adorable little Ellis going on an adventure with all his L4D buddies. [Also, I went through the whole movie not noticing what "One Eyed Willy" was implying. I only thought "Oh, he's a pirate with one eye". No. Not the case.] So, seeing as I had no internet where I was at [or a computer], I typed this all up on my iPod in about a day. While this is the first fic I've posted, it's not the first one I've written.

Warnings: Age Change, Slightly AU, Posible Shonen Ai in Future [all very fluffy stuff], Rating may go up to T [but you have to be seventeen to but L4D/L4D2, soooo...]

Disclaimer: I do not own _Left 4 Dead _and in no way am I profiting from this or intending to slander _Valve_'s good name.

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><p>Ellis stared out the recently cleaned windows of his mother's car, lighly kicking his tiny work boots. He watched as the smaller one story houses turned into more elaborate two and three story houses. Ellis' eyes lit up, his mouth split into a huge grin, exposing the gaps between his little teeth. It was summer vacation for nine year old Ellis, and his mom was taking him to see his friend Rochelle. Well, she was going to see her friend from high school who just happened to have a doughter that was friends with Ellis. They stayed at their house for a few weeks in the summer each year, because as a single mom, Ellis' mom needed a break now and again.<p>

Ellis was always happy to see Rochelle, not that he didn't see her at school, she just didn't really pay him any mind. She was ten, and hung out with other ten year olds.

Like Zoey, who was always with eleven year old Louis and twelve year old Francis. Louis was shy, and hadn't many friends his own age, so he had found a friend in the ever social Zoey. Francis, on the other hand, was a bully who only started hanging out with Zoey after a failed attempt to steal Louis' lunch money. He ended up collapsed on the ground, holding his aching groin while she kicked him in the side yelling at him for being a "stupid meany face". He never messed with Louis again. Not physically, anyway.

When the car had parked in front of a light purple two story house Ellis bolted out to see his friend. He slowed to a stop a few feet in front of her when he noticed she wasn't as excited to see him. In fact, she looked like she was on the brink of tears. Her eyes were glassy and had pink edges, her hair was in many small braids with colorful beads but seemed dull. She had her arms crossed and was staring down at her pink sandals. Ellis' mom walked over to Rochelle's and hugged her tightly, the later returning it thankfuly. They walked in the house in scilence while Ellis grabbed his rolling Spider Man suit case and Rochelle remained in her place on the porch. He pulled the suit case behind him untill he stood on the step in front of her, unsure as to why it was so tense in the house, but knowing his friend was upset. He hugged her tightly, much like his mother had just done moments before, but Rochelle wriggled and pushed out of his embrace. Ellis was shocked and a little hurt, but just picked up his suitcase and tugged it inside after Rochelle.

The next day, Ellis and Rochelle were out side. Ellis was kicking a soft colorful ball against the wall of the house, Rochelle was playing with a plastic doll house that folded out. At this point, Ellis had noticed Rochelle's dad wasn't in the house and had decided not to say anything, as he had been through the same thing. They both looked up as a car roared by at ridiculas speeds, shortly fallowed by two large moving trucks. The car pulled into a driveway to a white three story house as a man in a brown suit pulled a 'FOR SALE' sign out of the lawn. Ellis looked over at Rochelle who was still staring at the car with dull, uninterested eyes.

"Hey." Rochelle turned slightly to look at Ellis. "Ya' wanna go check it out, Ro?"

"...No, El. I think I'll stay."

"...I'll give you a ride in the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr."

"...Okay."

Ellis smiled brightly, he grabbed a plastic blue wagon covered in stickers with "Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr" written on the side in sharpie. He opened the little plastic door and bowed in a gentlemanly manner. Rochelle giggled and stepped into the wagon, yelling to her mom to let her know they were going. Ellis trotted ahead, pulling the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr and Rochelle at a slow pace. She tucked a loose braid behind her ear with a small smile. She hoped these next few weeks would last forever, that she would never have to move.

About a week ago, Rochelle's father told her and her mother that he was leaving them for another woman. A younger woman, but not a more beautiful woman. In fact, Rochelle thought she resembled a bull frog. She hated him for leaving them for that bull frog of a woman, but hated him more for making them have to move. Without his income there was almost no way they could afford to keep living there. Sure, there would be child support, but that would never cover it. Rochelle would have to leave the park and the tree house and and her friends. She'd have to leave Ellis and Zoey and everyone, and she hated him most for that.

But she pushed those thoughts from her mind as they aproached the white house. Ellis looked both ways about a thousand times before racing across, even though there weren't any cars. In the front lawn a grown man in a white suit was talking casually with a young woman, next to the man stood a young boy. He was well dressed in black pants and a blue dress shirt, a black vest over top. His black hair hung loose, extending just past his jaw. Ellis and Rochelle couldn't help but look slightly shocked by how professional the two looked for a move. The boy glanced their way before turning fully and jogging toward them.

"Hey, what do you two think you're doing? You think you _own_the place? Huh? Do you? Get outta here before you try and put plastic flamingos in my lawn." The boy snarled, his face scrounched up in disgust. Clearly recognizing Ellis' financial situation by his patched overalls, the staps pushed off his shoulders, and his faded yellow shirt.

Rochelle stood up in the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr, anger clear in her face. "Who do you think you are? We have just as much right to the sidewalk as everyone!" At this, the boy smirked and pointed to their feet. Ellis and Rochelle both looked to see Ellis' feet were in the lawn, allong with the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr's front tires. Ellis mumbled an 'Oops' as he pushed them both back, making sure Rochelle had been seated again first.

"Well, Sorry to bother ya. We was just tryin' to make friends." Ellis said as he began turning the wagon around. "We'll be leavin' ya be now."

The boy raised a brow at this. "Really now, _Overalls_?"

Rochelle seemed to be the only one to notice, or at least care about, the nick name. Ellis continued on. "Yup. We thought we'd make nice with the nieghbor, but it seems you don't wanna make nice."

"You'll never make friends 'round here with an attitude like that." Rochelle spat as she flipped her hair off her shoulder, Ellis taking that as their cue to leave. They had barely made it past the boy's house when they heard him behind them, calling out for them to wait up.

When he cought up he gave them a gamblers smile, green eyes gleaming. "You know what? You guy's arn't so bad. I think I'll stick around."

"Well then," Ellis beamed and adjusted his hat. "I'm Ellis, but some people call me El. But I really prefer Ellis 'cuz El kinda sounds like a girls name. ...But you can call me El if you want to."

"I'm Rochelle. _Just_Rochelle." She shot him a glare, still peeved at his earlier treatment.

The boy returned her glare with a smirk. He grabbed Ellis' hand, leaning down to give it a kiss. "I'm Nick. It's a pleasure to meet you,_ El_."

They both looked at Ellis, Nick with a victorious smirk and Rochelle with a look of disbelief. Ellis just stood there, face blank, untill..."Is you one 'a them homos my mama told me 'bout?"

Nick's face fell, turning a ghostly white. Rochelle practically fell out the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr she was laughing so hard. Nick shook his head, trying to regain some composure. "How old are you, anyway? To know a word like that..."

Ellis just smiled "I'm nine and a quarter!"

"I just turned ten" Rochelle said between fits of giggles, face slightly pink.

Nick gave them a grin. "I'm eleven and a half."

Ellis tugged lightly on Nick's sleeve. "Hey, was that pretty lady back there your mama? You guy's don't look alike..." The young woman from before was tan with blonde hair, a great contrast to Nick's pale features and black hair.

"Naw, she's just some chick my dad's bangin'." Nick said with the smile of a buissness man.

"Bangin'? He ain't hurtin' her, is he?" Ellis said, clearly unsure of the meaning of the word.

"What? I donno. I mean, the guys in our family _have_been known for-" Rochelle slaped the back of his head before he could finish, glaring at him when he tried to start again. "Umn...never mind."

Ellis just blinked his innocent blue eyes, shifted his hat, and began tugging Rochelle along again. "Ah hope she's alright..." He mumbled. Nick snickered at that, earning him a punch in the arm.

They all went back to Rochelle's house where they kicked and tossed the colorful ball about. Eventually it had turned into a game of "Ellis in the middle", as the youngest of the three also happened to be the shortest. Rochelle's mom must have noticed the frustrated look on the young boy's face and called them in for lunch. When they entered, she asked about the extra boy.

"Mama, this is Nick. He just moved in." Rochelle smiled up at her mother. Nick fallowed in behind her with a smile and a hand shake. Ellis trotted in behind them, hugging the ball.

"Nick's a homo, mama!"

Nick looked about ready to punch the naive boy as Ellis' mother rolled with laughter and Rochelle's mom looked somewhat terrified. Ellis just stood there confused, not fully understanding what he'd said.

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><p>AN: So...yeah. Constructive Critism is welcome to help me improve. In fact, I encourage it. But don't just send me a review that says "this suckz i hate your storie", let me know why it sucks.<p>

Also, what color are Ro's eyes? I thought blue, but I'm not sure...


	2. The Attic

**Chapter twoooo! So...yeah. Sorry this took a wee bit longer than promised, I've commited myself to a relationship and have practically devoted all my time to them. In fact, the only reason this is done now is because I type on my iPod, which is going to -Store to get all cleaned out and updated. I was up untill 2:30am finishing this. I may have some errors this chapter, so please let me know!**

**WARNING: Very light and fluffy shonen ai [bxb], Nick and Rochelle's language.**

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><p>Ellis and Rochelle were standing on their tip-toes as they peered into the fridge, fully aware that Rochelle's mom kept all the good stuff on the top shelf. She had instructed them to make sandwiches and to stay inside untill she got back from the grocery store. Ellis' mom had left to go to the shop a short while after they had been called in, aparrently there was an emergency. Ellis leaned on a shelf, a candy bar at the back of the self just out of his reach. Suddenly, the shelf tipped forward and he fell back with a squeak. His eyes widened as the eggs fell with him, fearing the worst. Luckily, Nick was right behind him and cought them. He gave the younger a questioning look, but he just smiled up at him in a silent thanks. Using Nick to pull himself up, Ellis decided to look for something on a lower shelf. In the end though, Rochelle and Nick ended up just making a few PB&amp;J's for all of them. Rochelle's mom still wasn't home by the time they finished, so they decided to play a game of hide and go seek.<p>

"NOSE GOES!" Rochelle yelled, her pointer finger already on her nose. Nick quickly cought on, but was too late. Rochelle smiled playfuly. "Nick's it!"

Nick grumbled some, but laid his head down and began counting. He could hear the patter of the other children's feet as they ran off giggling.

"Count to one hundred!"

"Ellis, can you even count that high?"

"I can so! Kieth tought me!"

"No skipping numbers, Nick!"

He smiled at that. "_...nine! Twenty two! Thirty five!_"

"NICK!"

Eventually, Nick counted normally and the two ran off to hide. Seeing as it _was_Rochelle's house, she found a spot quickly. Ellis spent plenty of time in the house, but was having a hard time finding a decent place on the first floor. When he got to the second floor he noticed the door the the attic was open and the ladder was down. He was wary at first, but heard Nick in the eighties.

Ellis climbed up the ladder as fast as his small limbs would allow. He was determined not to be the first one cought. Once he was in the attic, he was assulted by a cloud of dust. With a cough and a wave of his hand Ellis looked around. The attic was huge, but not very full. The only window was big enough for him to stand in, the light filtered by an off white dusty curtain. The dust was so thick on it that Ellis could draw pictures in it. He stumbled over a box as he walked to the window, drawing the curtains and opening the window to allow air into the stuffy room. He immediately regretted this, as more dust from the window blew into his face. He coughed again and rubbed his eyes, thinking maybe he should go back down. Ellis peeked down the ladder and saw Nick stalking about. He quickly and quietly moved to hide behind a large box, deciding that he'd rather be attacked by dust than cought by Nick. It took him a while, about fifteen minutes (long enough for Rochelle to change spots. He'd come to close for her liking.), but Nick had finally given up on the second floor. He only glanced at the ladder as he passed, mumbling "No way Overalls went up there." Ellis felt a swell of pride at that, deciding now was the best time to start moving around.

He stayed in the area the light was cast upon, as he was still young and terribly scared of what may lay in the shadows. Like zombies. God have mercy, any thing but zombies! He'd watched Kieth play Resident Evil on a number of occasions. Every time resulted in nightmares in which large masked zombies jumped from atop a building brandishing a bloody chain saw, screaming incohierently as they lunged at poor defenseless Ellis. The blue eyed boy was looking in a rather impressive mirror when he noticed a something glimmer on the other side of the room. He turned swiftly, seeing it shine again. Ellis frowned as his brow furrowed in thought, what ever had cought his attention was on the dark side of the room which he was still not willing to enter. He approached the end of the lights security, leaning over it slightly to try and see the object but couldn't. He looked right, then left, finally spotting a tall floor lamp. It was not only so tall he'd have to stretch to turn it on, but it was mostly shrouded in darkness. Slowly shuffling toward it, Ellis constantly looked back to the shandows, and he swore he could see the gleam of a chain saw and hear a sadistic cackle. He swallowed the lump in his throught. That active imagination of his would prove to either create greatness in him, or destroy him someday.

Finally he reached the lamp, partialy shadowed, and began groping around the shade for a switch of some sort. While doing so his hand went straight into a cob web, making him shreak and lose his balance. Ellis tumbled into the shadows, taking the lamp with him. He quickly scurried back into the light on all fours. Looking around with slightly labored breath, he noticed that the cord of the lamp had a swich on it. He crawled over and clicked it on, the toppled lamp illuminated some of the room and cast obscure shaddows. Ellis quickly righted it and looked for the shining object.

It was a book. A small black book with golden corners and _The Tale of the CEDA Pirates_embossed in gold on the cover.

By this time Nick and Rochelle were heading up the ladder, having heard Ellis' battle with the lamp. Nick glanced around with a look that screamed 'typical', which Rochelle clearly noticed and rosponded to with a punch to the arm. He glared at her as she trotted up and peeked over Ellis' shoulder. "What ya got there, El?"

Ellis was about to reply, but the taller of the boys snatched the book and skimmed the title. His mouth turned up in a michievious grin. "Overalls found a book on bandits! Can you even _read_a book like this?" He chuckled, but seemed to be the only one amused.

Rochelle glared him down. "Why do you have ta be so mean ta El?" With this she roughly pulled the book out of his hand and returning it to a gloomy Ellis.

"Why does everyone around here's grasp of the English language so loose?"

Rochelle's face grew red with fury, thinking of how she could shove him down the ladder right now. But then she noticed that the most talkative of the three was odly silent. A glance to Ellis proved that he was actually sitting down and reading. Her mind drifted to last summer, when she had snapped at him for asking her to read things to him often. Rochelle felt a pang of guilt for doing so, but was glad he had improved so much. She shot Nick a final glare; she'd get him back later. Right now, Ellis deserved her attention and she wasn't going to deprive him of it. Rochelle kneeled next to him. "Hey El, would you please tell me what that's about?"

He looked to her slightly confused, it was in her house, so it was her book, right? Ellis didn't fully understand the concept that "just because it's in your house, that doesn't mean you've read it", as there were only children's books and the Bible at his house. His mother was never a big reader. His father was a drunk; this being the main reason he was no longer a part of their lives. But he shook himself of those thoughts and beamed up at Rochelle. "It's about pirates!"

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Nick, I swear to God, you best mind yourself if you want to leave here in one piece." She threatened coldly, her expression melting the second she turned to Ellis. Nick shuddered. Ellis just smiled back.

"It says that they called 'emselves CEDA-"

"Surprise, surprise."

"Dammit, Nick!" A box was practically catipulted at the oldest of the three, hitting him square in the chest. He fell to his back and the contents of the box littered the floor, stirring up more dust. She smiled at Ellis again, this time the one he returned was wary. "Go on, El. Tell me the story."

He glanced over at Nick, slightly fearful of Rochelle's upper arm strength. "W-well...it says they were unstoppable. That they would pillage any and every town allong the east coast. Zoomb is even listed in here."

"Really? Why would they even bother? It's such a small town."

Now, Zoomb wasn't the official town name. In fact, the town was officially known as Smithsville, and Ellis thought it the most boring name on the planet. Zoomb was an unofficial name for the part of town where the one story houses met the two and three story houses. If you were born there, you where automatically branded a "Zoombie", something Ellis was very proud of. Rochelle, on the other hand, often took offence to this. The two had explained the Zoomb to Nick shortly after they met, even though he technically wasn't a Zoombie. He had simply stuck his nose up at this, claiming that he wouldn't want to be anything the sounded like a walking corpse.

"But that's not the craziest part!" Ellis exclaimed, his face paled a bit. "They say that after CEDA left, within a week people swore they saw the dead walk!"

"...Hey, guys-"

"Can it, Nick!"

"Oh, thats just a rumor, El. I don't think we'll have to worry about zombies." Rochelle huddled close to him. "Would ya check it out, there's a map to a secret port that CEDA used here!"

"No Kidding? And look! This was the last place they stopped! Maybe the ship is still there..."

"Guys-"

"Can you imagine how much loot is on that ship? I'm sure there'd be more than enough for you to be able to stay!" Rochelle's eyes adopted the same sparkle of adventure that shone brightly in Ellis'.

"GUYS." Both heads snapped to him. Ellis looked apologetic, Rochelle looked pissed. Nick lifted up an arm, a canteen and a bag wound around it. Ellis quickly crawled over to help. Nick gave a '_HA_' look to Rochelle, before nudging his head toward the now empty box. "You should check out the stuff in there."

Rochelle walked over, nose in the air, and glanced down at what once filled the box. Compasses, wooden swords, binoculars, eye patches, BB gun pistols and rifles, and first aid kits were everywhere. There were more canteens, but Rochelle didn't trust them. Her face sofened, she saw this as a sign. A sign that she should go out and have one last adventure with Ellis and all the other Zoombies. To have fun with them before she had to say goodbye. And who knows, maybe she wouldn't have to go? Rochelle was glad her father had left her at least this, the ungrateful bastard. She looked to Ellis, who had Nick hanging off his shoulder while he opened the bag that had captured the later's arm. Inside there was a ring of keys, a oddly shaped stone, and, strangely enough, a collidescope. Nick grinned and mumbled something to Ellis, who turned a little pink. Rochelle shot him a glare and he put his hands up in mock surrender.

As if on cue to save the boy's life, Rochelle's mom returned and called for her. She shot a final glare at Nick, not wanting to leave the eleven year old and the nine year old alone together for some reason. At seeing this, Nick squeezed himself closer to Ellis, who didn't seem to mind. When Rochelle had finally dissapeared down the ladder, Nick continued their game of him wispering boarder line appropriate things and watching El blush. He found it adorable how easily the hick became flustered, and decided to kick it up a notch. After a wisper practically cought jumping the boarder of being appropriate, Nick administered a small, soft kiss to Ellis' pulse point. He smirked in triumph as Ellis' legs and arms curled in toward his small body and his face turned a deep red.

Nick would be the first to admit that he had no real preference: there was no reason a male couldn't be just as attractive or even more so than a woman. This was simply the line of thinking he had picked up from his father, and he certainly _was not_a homo. Ellis' mom was simmilar, but differnt all the same. She believed in the same principals, but that they applied a little further than skin deep. Not that she wasn't an attractive woman, with her slim figure, long blonde hair, big blue eyes, and the ability to recognize and fix just about any car put in front of her. She was slightly aged past her years due to smoking so much at a young age, but she was beautiful. She had had a few girlfriends that she had taken home to meet Ellis, so as far as he knew it was okay. But the word for that is homo.

Ellis didn't think he could curl up any father as Nick continued to press his lips to that spot between soft chuckles. At this point Nick had sat fully behind him and wraped his arms round the younger boy's middle. His stomach was starting to feel strange, so he lightly batted the eleven year old away. He seemed hesitant, but did give up, returning to the wispers. Rochelle returned a few minutes latter looking as somber as ever. "...you should come down stairs." And then she dissapeared down the ladder. A glimps of Ellis' face showed that the playful atmosphere had dissolved, so with a sigh Nick released his waist. Ellis immediatly fallowed Rochelle but Nick hung back some. He would get revenge for this someday, he swore to it.

When downstairs, Nick saw Ellis scooped up in the arms of his mother. Nick immediately made a mental note to make his father swear of touching the, as his father would put it, MILF. He glanced over to Rochelle's mom She was good looking for her age, her dark Carmel hair pulled out of it's ordinary bun reached past her shoulders. Her figure was well kept. She would due for a distraction from Ellis' mom. She turned to him with a smile. "Honey, if you want to stay for dinner tonite you should call your dad."

_Sweet as pie_, Nick thought with a smile. She would deffinately due.

Ellis' eyes lit up. "Misses Rochelle's mom, miss! Could I please call my buddy Kieth when Nick gets off the phone, _please_?" She smiled and agreed.

Rochelle was still looking peeved, and flinched at the knock on the door, but didn't move. "That must be the sitter!" Ellis' mom grinned as she walked to the door, depositing Ellis next to Nick, who was now off the phone with his father. She turned to them one last time before opening the door. "Now, Me and Rochelle's mom are going on a sort of girls night out, so you better behave for the sitter just like you would either of us." Ellis smiled and nodded, Rochelle continued to sulk. "And you!" She pointed to Nick. "Be good. Don't think just because you arn't my kid I can't get out the wooden spoon and put you over my knee!" Nick gave a sinister grin at this.

The door opened and a tall, broad African American teen entered the room. His voice somewhat deep and booming. He wore a football jersey and jeans, and his head was neatly shaved. He looked no more than sixteen, a sophmore. He was also the son of the Bull Frog woman Rochelle despised more than her father. He flashed the room a smile.

"Hey there kids, people call me Coach."

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><p><strong>...Well, because Coach is the sitter for Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle, I'm sure you can guess who the sitter for Zoey, Louis, and Francis will be.<strong>

**I don't know how much it shows, but I really love wrighting Nick. Ellis is adorable [I always play as him for that exact reason], but there's something about Nick I just love to wright.**

**SO! REVIEWS! Tell me if I'm wrighting them OOC, if this is terrible and you wish you never read it, tell me that you love me, but please, tell me _why_. And please leave reviews. I saw there were about 30+ hits on this story, but only 2 reviews. D:**

**Thanks to those who read! But thanks more to reviewers! [I'd give you gold stars if I could]**


	3. Off The Beaten Path fixed

**Sorry for the slightly longer wait! But hey, this chapter has one thousand more words than the last two. So! I feel I should get this out of the way first:**

***Bill- He's Zoey's Uncle here. XxLadyChaosXx suggested he be Francis' grandfather, which was a good idea, but I needed a younger Bill.**

***The Screamer- Okay, I cannot take credit for him, only my slightly edited version. I was really sad that Valve cut this special infected, so I put him in here! You can learn all about the Screamer by playing the commentary mode on L4D, found under extras. I made him slightly more Witch-like for this. Jus' sayin'.**

**Thanks to GlassSoul who pointed out my errors!**

**I'll rant more at the end, but you've waited long enough, read on.**

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><p>Zoey was <em>not <em>very happy with these arangements. Not that she disliked sitters, quite the contrary, really. She enjoyed someone new to talk to and play games with and such. What was making Zoey unhappy was that her normal sitter, who Zoey had wrapped around her little finger, wasn't doing the job. It was her uncle. He was in his late twenties and had just come home from the battle field. Sure, Zoey loved her uncle and had missed him very much, but there was one crutial downfall here.

Bill knew the rules of the house. There was no way she would get away with the stuff she normally did.

Zoey walked up to him, looking as sweet as she could, and pulled a movie from behind her back. "Can we watch this?"

Bill plucked the movie from her tiny hands, glancing it over and reading the back. The case said _Rainbow Bright_, the look on Zoey's face said _bull shit_. He popped open the case to reveal a DVD that read _The Crazies_. Zoey's face fell some. "Now, Zoey, you and I both know your mother doesn't let you watch scary movies."

She gave him a toothy grin, well, partialy toothy. She had lost a front tooth last week. "Mother doesn't need to know."

He frowned, carding his fingers through his dark brown hair. "She'll know when you have nightmares tonight."

"Nuh uh!" Zoey looked offended at this. "I watch scary movies at Francis' house _all the time _and I _never _get nightmares!"

Bill faked a look of fear. "But Zoey...what if_ I _get nightmares?"

Zoey was about to protest the likelihood that that would be the case when a sharp knock rang through the house. Zoey gave him a look, mumbling "this isn't over", before she ran to the door. She peered out the peep hole in the door to see Francis holding Louis in a headlock. She sighed and opened the door, hands on her hips. "Didn't your mama ever teach you to your hands to yourself?"

"Nope." Though Francis promptly released the smaller boy. Louis gave Zoey a nervous smile and mouthed a 'thank you'. She returned it with a silent 'no problem'. Francis stared at Bill for a while. Not moving. Not blinking. Maybe not even breathing. Just staring, untill finally, when Bill thought he might go insane, he spoke up. "Who's the geezer?"

Bill gave a patient smile. "I'm not sure that twenty seven counts as 'geezer material'."

"What ever, grandpa, I didn't ask how many years you've been collecting dust."

Bill visably twitched at this. He couldn't believe how rude children where these days. He concidered calling the boy's parents, but from the way he was dressed in ripped jeans, black _Punisher _shirt, and foax leather vest, he was certain his parents already knew the type of boy their son was. Bill looked to the other boy. He was simply dressed in loose fitted dark jeans and a white shirt with a blocky red tie printed on it. He vaugely wondered how his niece had become friends with such a wide viriety of children.

Zoey bickered with the boy for a while, her arms akimbo. She was in a red sweater with two white stripes on the sleeves, matching red skirt, and a white tank top today. She had spent an hour on the phone with her friend Rochelle this morning picking out what matching outfit they would wear. They only had a couple, but apparently this was a _very_big deal and must be taken seriously. Then they had spent what Bill thought was an eternity picking out how they would do their hair, only to agree on a pony tail. Bill feared for when they became teenagers.

Eventually the argument came to a close and Bill tuned back in. "Whatever!" Zoey practically spat, whipping her head in Bill's direction. In an attepmt at comic relief, Bill grasped a hand to his chest and fell over in an 'if looks could kill' routine. Louis gave a small, nervous chuckle, Francis gave him a look that read 'about time', but Zoey's expression became somewhat confused. "Ummm...right. Well, uncle Bill! Will you walk us down to Rochelle's house?"

"Funny, it seems your missing something there."

Zoey gave him the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could muster. "Pleasssee?"

Bill smiled up at her from his spot on the floor. "Go and get your shoes on, then."

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><p>Nick thought Rochelle was bad, but she was nothing compared to Ellis. Sure, Rochelle spent a good chunk of time on the phone this morning when he'd come over, but she was trying to pick out clothes. Ellis, on the other hand had been on for <em>hours<em> just rambling on about nothing to his friend, _Keith_. When Nick asked Rochelle why no one was concerned about the bill, she informed him that her father still paid for it. But even he couldn't deny the real reason he was worried about being on the phone so long. Jealousy: Nick couldn't stand the thought that Ellis cared more about this _Keith _kid than him. To Nick, it didn't matter that Ellis had practically known Kieth since birth. He was becoming territorial over the hick, and he'd only known him two and a half days.

It took forever and a day, but Ellis and Keith were finally saying good bye. The second the younger returned the phone to the reciever, Nick was behind him with a kiss to the cheek. Ellis just rubbed it off, now used to Nick's affections. That in itself saying some thing, not only because of the short time they'd known each other, but also because Nick wasn't publicly affectionate. He only showed the slightly softer side of himself when they we're alone or Rochelle wasn't looking. Like last night, when the two younger kids had walked him home. Rochelle was a fast walker, while Ellis was kind of sluggish. He was in no hurry to get anywhere, so why rush? In all honesty, Nick was a speedy walker, too, but he had hung back with the smaller brunette. He slipped his hand into Ellis', lacing together their fingers while Rochelle talked away ahead of them. Nick barely managed an "uh-huh" or a "no, really?" every now and again, his face flustered and his head turned slightly to avoid Ellis' glances. So, needless to say, Ellis now found these occurances ordinary.

Coach, on the other hand, did not. He wairily eyed Nick, then Ellis, then Nick again. "Boy, did you just...?" He seemed scared to finish his question.

"I've no idea what your talking about." Nick smiled mischivously.

Rochelle's mom was aparently very happy with the job Coach did, because she decided to take Elli's mom and Nick's Dad, a development Nick was very happy about, out for the entire saturday and leave him in charge. She warned him that Nick would probably spend most of the day at their house, but he hadn't expected the boy to be already at the house when he got there at seven thirty. The boy was already dressed and ready for the day, sitting down drinking coffee with the two mothers and conversing casually. Today Nick had a silky pastell green button up with a white vest, currently slung over a chair in the kitchen, and white suit pants. It didn't seem to matter how hot it was, Nick was always well dressed. Coach had decided by now something just wasn't _right _with that boy.

Just as Coach was going to question the boy further, a knock distracted him. Rochelle quickly made her way down the stairs yelling "I've got it!" She was at the door in no time at all, making short work of the variety of locks keeping her guests out. Zoey greeted her with a hug and the latest tid-bit of middle school gossip, timid Louis was shoved in, and Francis sauntered in like he owned the place. As mentioned earlier, Zoey and Rochelle were wearing the same outfit, only Rochelle's was a light pink. Also, Rochelle's hair was longer even when in all of the tiny braids, and all of the micro braids had been pulled neatly into a ponytail. Zoey's hair was shorter by several inches. She had managed to get it into a small pony tail...with the help of several red and white barrette's. Caoch quickly took notice of the young man lazily hearding the children out of the door way. Bill smiled at him, causing the unlit ciggerette in his lips to move upward slightly. Coach scowled, unhappy with the presence of the addictive substance, even if it wasn't currently filling his lungs with tar. He didn't want that to be passed off as a good idea to the children.

That look of disgust did not go unnoticed by Bill, but he continued smiling anyway and extended his arm for a handshake anyway. "Name's Bill, I'm watching Zoey for now."

Coach firmly gripped his hand in an attepmt to show Bill he ment buissness. "Friends call me Coach. I'm watchin' Rochelle and Ellis."

"Coach, huh?" Bill released the youngers hand after a firm squeeze of his own in favor of scratching his stubble. "How'd you get a name like that?"

"I coach the Smithsville Colt's during training and summer camp." At this time Ellis was walking down stairs, toweling his hair of. He grinned at the mention of their school's mascott; after all, Ellis did love horses.

"The colts, you say? Isn't that the middle school team?" Bill eyed him uninerestedly. "So are you on the high school team?"

"I am." Coach gritted, leaving out that it'd been by the skin of his teeth and he had been training like crazy to keep up. Both males were too busy flaunting their testosterone to notice the group of kids huddling together, wispering to one another.

In all honesty, Bill kind of hoped the boy would say he hadn't made it, but this answer worked, too. "That's good to hear. I played baseball back in high school, but me and a couple of the other soldiers had started a small football team." He grinned at the wide eye'd look the younger gave him. Bill wasn't really dressed like a soldier now that he was home for good, but Coach didn't really look like a football player, either. Bill had mossy green cargo pants and a grey t-shirt on with his army jacket unbuttoned, making it slightly dufficult to tell it apart from a hunting jacket. Caoch was wearing loose jean shorts and a black Midnight Riders concert tee. Coach was trying to come up with a more masculine retort when a small hand tugged on his shirt.

He looked down to meet the big blue eyes of Ellis, his face partially shrouded by the towel draped over his head. He grinned down at the small boy. "You need something, Ellis?"

"Not really," Ellis smiled up at him. "But did I ever tell you about the time me and my buddy Kieth tried to make fireworks?"

Bill looked slightly terrified at this, but Coach just went with it. "I don't think you have." He grinned, completely ovlivious to what he'd just gotten himself into.

"Well, we'd just seen 'em a few days ago at a carnival and decided they were real neat lookin' 'n all, so we wanted to make some of our own. Only problem was we didn't really know what went into fireworks, so we tried rocks and gasoline: 'cuz rocks explode in fire and gas makes fire. An' we put it in one a' them carboard TP rolls with some duct tape on the bottom, and then our buddy, Dave..." It was at this point Bill and Coach adopted the famous thousand yard stare; they couldn't ask him to stop now, not when Coach had practically asked to hear it. Niether of them even noticed Nick and Francis knotting the girls hop scotch ropes together. "...'n so me 'n Dave stood a ways back while Kieth lit one of his grandpa's matches: which were real hard to find 'cuz he hides 'em from us. So anyway, Kieth lights it 'n tosses it on our fire works 'n starts to run, but he ain't quite fast enough. He had third degree burns all over his back 'n-"

Nick and Francis circled Bill and Coach, rope in hand. They continued running, wraping the joined ropes around the two as many times as possible berfore stopping behind them to tie a tight knot. Francis kicking the joined pair over for good measure before running off. Nick took Ellis' hand and tugged, silently telling him they needed to go. Ellis gave him a blank stare, then looked back to the sitters on the floor, wriggling and cussing. "...'n his hair didn't grow back for a whole year."

Nick dramatically rolled his eyes as Ellis now tugged him to get going, the towel falling from his still slightly damp hair. They both ran out the house, Ellis putting a lawn chair in behind the door as an extra precaution and Nick rolled up his pant legs. The older jumped on a skate board and sped ahead to catch up with the others. Ellis hopped onto his bike, which had the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr attached and a nervous Rochelle inside. He peddled as fast as he could and was quickly cought up to the other children. Zoey lead them on her scooter, Louis shortly behind wearing sneakers with small wheeles, then Francis on a menacing looking bike, with Nick, Ellis, and Rochelle taking up the rear. Louis had turned slightly to ask the three for directions, and ended up bumping into a car hard enough to knock him down. The alarm blared to life and a few people poured out of nearby shops. Louis scrambled up to his feet, Francis passing him with a slap to the head and calling out "Do it again, why don't ya?" Zoey had back tracked and pulled him by the arm to get him rolling again. The group decided not to check the directions untill they had reached the forest.

It didn't take them too terribly long to get through town; an older man yelled at them for taking up the entire side walk, a few dogs tangled up their owners as they barked madly, some girls swooned, the usual. Soon enough they were at the edge of the woods, and had the map out. Rochelle pointed out that a well where something of importance had been left was rather nearby where they were, so she grabbed the compases, wooden swords, binoculars, BB gun pistols and rifles, and the other items from the attic out of the Jimmy Gibbs Jr Jr. She noticed there were a few extras, so Zoey and Nick took secondary pistols, and the boys pocketed the other extras. Rochelle lead the way, most decent compass in hand, toward the well.

The forest wasn't so thick; thick enough to force them to relinguish their modes of quick transportation, but not enough to slow them down too much. They where still making decent progress and where rapidly approaching the well when they heard something out of the ordinary. Ever skiddish Louis was the first to notice, and when he had first pointed it out they called him crazy. But now, now they could all hear it.

There was demented laughter and light cackling up ahead, right where the well should have been. It was terrible laughter, it contained no joy, just a sick, twisted sense of humor. There was also a breaking sound, small and soft, but no doubt there. Francis, Nick, Zoey, and Rochelle where the first to make it down a small slope that lead to an area of rediculasly tall grass, crouching down and peeking out. Louis had started at the same time but was moving slower and was shakily grasping anything to keep balance. Ellis, on the other hand, was slightly behind the group. His foot had gotten stuck on a root and he had opted to silently struggle with it instead of alert the group, so he was left out of their unspoken game plan. Nick was first to notice the boy's abcense, and was about to question it when he heard something thud behind them. Sure enough, there the youngest of them was falling down the hill. Nick tried to catch him, but his momentum took them down.

Nick's head collided painfully with the ground, then Ellis' forehead connected with a loud crack to Nick's. Ellis adjusted slightly so he could comfertably move away from the older boy's face, but only enough to rub the now sore spot on his head. Nick, though, was keenly aware that he was on his back with Ellis stradling his hips due to an excessive ammount of hormones for an eleven year old boy. He briefly forgot himself and concisdered kissing the boy, that is, untill he noticed the loud sniffing. He glanced behind them and saw a frog crushed under a bare foot, guts spilling from it's mouth. Nick thought he might gag, being so close to the thing. Then he realized that with how tall this grass was, if he could see this thing, were it to turn it could see him. He slowly let himself gaze up at this murderer of amphibians, noticing that he was in white pants with buckles and straps to keep his legs in place, only they were undone, and his arms were firmly locked to his chest in a straight jacket. His hair was black and jutted out all over, some spots looking as if they'd been tore out. Nick almost swallowed nervously when he noticed something was still cackling in the distance. He was about to signal to younger to climb off slowly when the boy shifted slightly, reminding him of his hormones and just how they had effected him. A small, soft moan slipped from his lips and he unconciously shifted upward some, but he quickly remembered himself. He looked up and into near pupilless demented pale eyes for a split second before it lifted it's head and screethched.

"Goddamn Screamer!" Nick yelled over it as he collected Ellis and ran, a glance behind him proving he was being chased. Ellis was clutched close to the olders chest, thuroughly frightened by the screaming. The thing ran so awkard and twisted, until a small crack split the air and the crazed man turned to reveal a BB and a trickle of blood, but Nick didn't stop now. He took off while Zoey fired more BB's at the Screamer. Rochelle wasn't nearly as fearless and stumbled back, falling down a hill made invisable by the tall grass. With a squeak she attenpted to grab something, _anything,_ to keep herself upright. Unfortunately, what she grabbed was Zoey's jacket, and took them both down. Niether got to see that the Screamer wasn't acctually chasing them, it was just running in wild directions, screaming bloody murder.

And then there were two. Francis and Louis stood as still as possible, doing as best they could to not catch the Screamer's attention. But soon a hunched balding figure hobbled out from behind a tree, looking around sharply in search of the screaming lunatic. Once located, he took a few speedy steps and launched himself at him, landing squarely on the taller's back. The smaller put the larger in a head lock of sorts, tugging in the opposite directions.

"Looks like one 'a them hourse riders..." Francis mumbled softly. "I hate them guys...it's unnatural, the way they look..."

"Jockeys." Louis mubled back, noticing Francis' questioning look. "The people who ride hourses are called jockeys."

This earned him a punch to the arm. As Louis was about to protest, he was shoved to the ground, Francis kneeling next to him. Louis looked up to see that the Jockey now had a hold of the Screamer's hair, likely the reason for the missing patches, and was steering him away from them. "You're almost as bad...heh heh...almost as bad as that God damn...heh...that God damn _Witch_!"

Louis stood slowly and brushed himself off. "A Witch? Like with brooms and big pointy hats?"

Francis just shoved him over again. "How the hell should I know?" he snarled. The older took a good look around, then turned to look at Louis. "...Where did everybody go, anyhow?"

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><p><strong>**This was edited as of July 20th, 2012! So most of the errors were fixed, but it's not all that different. **<strong>

**I hate everything I write. I really do. A friend wants to read this, and I've yet to even tell her my username so she can find it. But! I kind of like this chapter. I'm not getting the "ohmaigawd people will hate my work" vibe I get come posting day. ****So please, don't sugar coat reviews. I hate it when I see positive reviews on a terrible story.**

**For the record: I had this done days ago. Seriously. I had it all done thursday, but I was out of state visiting family in Vermont. No comupters of internet for miles. But I had fun, and it inspired me a bit. Speaking of which...**

**I _may_ write a fallow up story to this when it's over, many many many chapters from now. It'd be teen!Ellis and the others. So let me know what you think of that! I'm loving this steady flow of reviews.**

**As usual, be it love or hate you feel for this story, tell me why! [Or how to improve. That'd be awesome.]**


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